First read: New books from NJ corruption to D.C. chicanery

12:15 PM,
Oct. 5, 2012

Written by

Anne Bendheim
| @Anne Bendheim

Somehow, writing a book about political corruption in New Jersey seems like shooting fish in a barrel. But writers are told to "write what they know." And if you're a young Jersey author, that could leave you with such ideas as "Our Friend the Tomato" or "Refineries and Schools: Do They Mix?" Or the whole crime thing.

KILLING THE POORMASTER: A SAGA OF POVERTY, CORRUPTION, AND MURDER IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Holly Metz (Lawrence Hill Books, $26.95)

A Hoboken author takes on a bit of Hoboken's dark past: During the Depression, Harry Barck was the "poormaster," the man who decided who would be ...